


Season's Change

by Adventurer



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Cute, F/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-12
Updated: 2013-04-04
Packaged: 2017-12-05 02:32:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,587
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/717854
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adventurer/pseuds/Adventurer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jack Frost befriends a girl, who turns out to be Mother Nature. Enjoy!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. New Girl

Jack Frost was up to his usual business. He, Jamie, and Jamie’s friends were having a snowball fight. Yeah, that was “usual business” for Jack. “Take that!” Jamie said, hitting Jack in the face. “Oh, you’re in for it now!” Jack responded, flying after the boy and hitting him in the back with a snowball. Jamie laughed, and Jack was just about to throw another snowball when he saw Cupcake looking off towards the house for sale. “What’s up Cupcake?” Jamie asked. Cupcake just shrugged and pointed. There was a moving van in front of the house, and behind it was a little honey-blonde girl, just about Jamie’s age, staring back at them. 

“Who’s that?” Jack asked. Jamie shrugged. “I don’t know. I heard a new family was moving in, but I didn’t know they had a kid.” The frost-bringer grinned and gave Jamie a little shove with his staff. “Well, go ask her if she wants to join us.” The boy rolled his eyes and smiled, walking up to the girl.   
“Hi,” he said. “Hi,” she responded before glancing at her feet. “My name’s Jamie and these are my friends.” He gestured towards the group of kids, all of which had stopped the snowball fight and were looking at him. They waved at the girl. “What’s your name?” Jamie asked. “E-Emma,” she said quietly. She looked up past Jamie’s shoulder, and Jamie turned around to see Jack behind him.

“Hey there, Emma. I’m Jack Frost,” he said with a grin, almost certain she couldn’t see him. Yet she half smiled and responded, “Hi Jack.” Astonished, Jack took a step back. “Wait...You can see me?” Emma nodded, her eyes confused. “Am I not supposed to see you?” “N-No… it’s just… well, yeah. Not many people can see me when they first meet me.” Jamie, having gotten over his similar shock, asked, “Do you want to come play with us?” Emma nodded. “I’d like that. Can my little brother play too?” she asked. Jamie grinned. “Of course.” “The more the merrier!” Jack added.

While Emma went inside to get her brother, Jack and Jamie went back to the others. “Okay, guys, let’s try to be nice to Emma and her brother, alright?” said Jamie, and the others nodded. “It’s tough being the new kid in town,” mumbled Cupcake. Jack shook his head in disbelief. “I still can’t believe she can see me.” “She can?” asked the others. “Yeah, it’s weird. Oh well, let’s have some fun!” Emma and her little brother, who she introduced as Danny, joined the others, and they had a grand old time.

A few minutes later, Emma’s father called her in from the house. “Ah, shoot! I forgot! I have to go cook dinner. Danny, come home in a little bit, okay? See you later, guys!” Emma said, running back to her house. “Woah…she cooks dinner herself? That’s so cool!” Jamie said, grinning. “She’s been cooking since Mommy died,” said Danny quietly. “Bye!” he added, following in Emma’s footsteps back to the house. Jack felt sympathetic for the girl. He knew what it was like to suddenly take on so much responsibility. Becoming a Guardian was incredibly unexpected for him, all the responsibilities and saving-the-world nonsense. Yet he knew, for some reason, that this girl could handle similar responsibilities just as well as he had.

*

Later that night, Emma heard a soft knock on her window. She got out of bed, rubbed her eyes, and looked out into the night. Jack Frost looked back at her and smiled. She waved and opened the window. “Wow, I didn’t know you could fly!” she said with a grin. “Yeah, it’s a perk of the job, I guess.” Jack sat on the roof outside her window, and she sat on her windowsill. They were quiet for a little while, until Jack said, “Listen, I heard about your mom—“ “Oh, don’t worry about that!” Emma responded. “I was too young to really remember it, and I hate it when people feel bad for me.” Jack smiled in spite of himself and nodded. This girl was strong, he could see that. “So did you sort of end up taking over for her?” he asked. She nodded. “My dad works all the time, and Danny needed someone to take care of him, so I sort of became as much of a mom to him as I could.” 

They got quiet again. The only sound was the winter wind rattling the tree branches. Emma shivered. “Ah, I better get going before you get too cold,” Jack said, floating up into the air and turning to go. “Hey Jack?” Emma mumbled. “Yeah?” He turned back around. She was blushing and looking at the ground. “Thanks for listening.” She glanced up at him, and he smiled. “Anytime. Just call if you ever want to talk again.” She grinned back at him and waved before closing her window, and he flew off into the night.

*

Jack kept true to his word, and came whenever she called. Even as Emma grew up, they stayed friends. Jack even gave her a few snow days here and there, when he knew she was having trouble keeping up in school. Little did Jack know it, but he was the only one who knew her entire story. He knew even less how much that story would soon change.

*

One night when she was sixteen, Emma opened her window and sat on the sill. “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” she sang quietly. “I don’t actually nip at people’s noses, you know.” She turned towards him with a grin. He smiled back at her. “What’s up?” he asked. She shrugged. “High school’s tough.” “Need another snow day?” She smirked, but it quickly faded. “I don’t know if that’s going to help this time.” She bit her lip and ducked her head, trying to hide her tears behind her hair, but not before Jack noticed them. “Oh god, what happened?” She took a deep, shuddery breath before responding, “My dad’s in the hospital. He tried to kill himself.” 

Jack was speechless. There were no words in a situation like this. Emma just looked at him and started sobbing. Slowly, Jack moved onto the windowsill next to her and wrapped his arms around her. She sobbed into his chest. “What am I going to tell Danny? What’s going to happen to us if he dies?” Jack squeezed her gently, trying to soothe her. “Shh, it will all be alright, I promise.” Gradually, she stopped crying. They sat in silence for awhile, listening to the stillness of the world around them. 

Emma shivered in his arms. Jack looked down at her and realized that she was asleep. He shifted and picked her up, carrying her to her bed and tucking her in. He watched her for a moment with a smile. She looked so peaceful in her sleep. He could’ve watched her all night, but he knew there was work to be done. Quietly, he slipped out the window, closing it behind him, and melted into the night.

*

The following day was a Sunday. Emma always bought the groceries on Sundays. This particular Sunday was incredibly icy and cold, though. Jack had done his job well last night. He just didn’t know how much he would change her life because of it. 

Emma shivered and stomped her feet to keep them warm. She waited on the sidewalk for the crosswalk light to change. She took the grocery list out of her pocket and looked it over thoroughly. She never saw the truck hit the patch of black ice and spin out of control. She never saw it fly towards her at fifty miles an hour. All she knew was that, for a moment, she was flying, and then she was falling…falling…falling. She heard someone screaming, although it sounded very far away. She felt an intense pain, then an icy numbness, and then nothing at all.


	2. Changes

Emma woke up what felt like only a few hours later. “Oh good, you’re awake,” said a familiar voice. She tried to sit up but felt an immense pain in her head and lay back down again. “Ah, yeah, don’t sit up too fast. You took quite a hit to the head.” She turned her head towards the voice and saw Jack Frost leaning against his staff. “Jack?” He smiled at her and responded, “Good morning, sunshine.” “Jack, where am I? What happened?” He bit his lip. “Maybe you should try to remember that yourself. Here, let me help you up.”

He helped her to sit up slowly and gently before sitting next to her on the bed. Emma rubbed her head. “I r-remember going to the grocery store… I was waiting to cross the street when…Oh god.” The memory of the truck and the fall penetrated her thoughts. She rubbed her forehead. “Oh god… Jack… Did I die?”

He frowned in a mixture of regret and sympathy as he nodded slowly. “Technically, yeah. But it was only for a moment. The Man in the Moon brought you back quickly.” She furrowed her eyebrows and looked at him. “The Man in the Moon?” Jack nodded. “He’s the one who chose all of us.” “Us?” “The legendaries. The immortals. The guardians. Call us whatever you want.”

“Jack, I don’t understand. What happened? Who am I now?” He cleared his throat nervously before mumbling something. “Didn’t quite catch that,” she said. Before he could say it again, she actually saw her bangs for the first time. They were a pale pink as opposed to their usual honey blonde. “Jack, why is my hair pink?” 

He laughed nervously. “See, here’s the thing. Your hair changes with the seasons now. It was blonde so pale it was almost silver while you were sleeping, but it slowly faded to pink. It must be about springtime now.” Emma gripped her hair in both hands. As far as she could see, her long, soft curls were all a pale pink, like newly-blossomed roses.   
She turned towards him, frustrated that she still didn’t know who she was. “Who the hell am I, Jack? Who?” she yelled at him. He flinched and closed his eyes before whispering, “Mother Nature.”

*

After Jack had said who she was and told her that this was her home in the wintertime, she sent him away. She explored the small room timidly, finding nothing else but the bed she had slept on -- which turned out to be made of flower petals and pine needles covered by blankets made of soft fur and feathers --, a small fireplace where a nice fire burned, an end table on which rested a wooden baton about one foot in length and ending with a white rose that was gradually turning pinker and pinker, and a large oak door with a silver handle. 

She also found that her usual clothes had been exchanged with a long sleeveless white dress that ended in a flowing skirt like a gypsy’s. Her shoes were missing, and on her head was a crown of woven roses that were the same shifting color as the baton. All she had left from her old life was the silver locket around her neck that her mother had given her when she was very young.

Realizing that there was nothing more to learn about this place, Emma picked up the baton and opened the door. It led to a tunnel ending in a winding staircase that went up. She emerged in a meadow covered in snow and ice. Jack was outside waiting for her. 

She half smiled at him, happy to at least have a familiar face in this confusing world. He smiled back at her and held a hand out to her. She took it, but as soon as her feet touched the snow and her hand touched his, she winced. It was as though she was stepping on one of Danny’s old Lego blocks. “Are you ready to learn who you really are?” Jack asked. She nodded slowly, knowing somehow that there was no going back to the life she once had.

*

Jack’s hand was as cold as ever, but Emma still squeezed it tightly, even though her hand felt like it was covered in pins and needles. “Ouch! Don’t be so afraid. It’s really not that bad up here,” Jack said. “Up here” was thousands of feet above the ground. He was going to teach her how to fly.

He pulled her along slowly at first, letting her get used to the feeling of being so high. “Alright, now I’m going to let go—“ “No!” she cried. “Don’t let go! I’ll fall for sure!” He laughed. “Just trust me, ok?” He let go of her hand, and she squeezed her eyes shut and clutched her flower wand tighter in her other hand, expecting the feeling of falling.   
After not feeling anything for a second, she opened her eyes again. Jack was smiling at her. “See? Is this so bad?” She shook her head and slowly tried moving left and right. She laughed with delight and started swooping and diving.

Jack caught up with her quickly. “I’ll race you to that town,” he said, pointing to a village nearby. “You’re on!” She took off in that direction the moment she responded. Jack flew past her on his back, his hands behind his head. “Is that all you’ve got?” he yawned. He blinked, and she was gone, far ahead of him. “Not even close!” she called back. He smirked and chased after her.

They ended in a dead even tie and a heap of laughter. “Come on,” Jack said when the laughter had died down. “I have other things to show you.” They came back to earth slowly. As soon as Jack’s feet touched the earth, a circle of ice formed around him. Similarly, when Emma landed next to him, a circle of flowers appeared and the ice melted a little. 

She bent down, examining the flowers. She took a step to the left, and flowers grew up where she was just standing. “Does this always happen?” she asked him, straightening up. He nodded. “I was confused when it first happened to me too. Here, try touching the snow.” She did, and it started melting. She didn’t notice Jack flinching, and the ice-boy meant to keep it that way.

She smiled to herself. “So I cause the snow to melt then, hmm?” Jack nodded and half grinned. “We’re supposed to wrestle between winter and spring, just to keep things interesting.” She laughed and said, “Well, that will be easy enough.” She flew off into the air, not realizing that he had remained on the ground, staring after her mournfully.  
Jack knew that she was the only person, or…well…legend, that could really hurt him and similarly knew that he was the only one who could truly hurt her. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that every time they were to touch, both would be stung by the invisible power that separated winter from spring. The truth was, he didn’t want her to be afraid of hurting him. He smiled to himself, realizing that the feeling of pain would mean nothing to him compared to the feeling of her hand in his again.


	3. Pain

By the end of March, spring had clearly triumphed over winter.

Emma stood in the middle of the grassy meadow in her circle of flowers, admiring her handiwork. She had always loved springtime, but now she admired it even more. She sat on her heels and pressed her palm to the earth. Her new powers allowed her to feel the plants around her growing, and she was absolutely amazed. It was nothing short of a miracle that she could feel the sunshine through the flowers, and it was a feeling she could definitely get used to. 

She flinched and instinctively pulled her hand away when she felt Jack alight on the ground behind her. She stood and turned to face him with a smile on her face, while rubbing her stinging hand behind her back. “Well, hello there stranger.” The frost-bringer grinned back at her and nodded towards the meadow. “Nice work. It looks like spring is here finally.” She smirked back at him and nodded. “It’s about time too,” she murmured, caressing one of the growing flowers. 

Jack leaned on his staff and raised an eyebrow at the girl. “Oh? I thought the time was a tad early. Winter could’ve stayed around for a little longer.” She rolled her eyes and sat down in the grass, patting the spot beside herself. “I won, fair and square. Just accept that.” He mocked her eye roll and replied sarcastically, “Okay, whatever you say,” before plopping onto the grass beside her, leaning back to look at the clouds.

Mother Nature wrapped her arms around her legs, her fingertip tracing a circle on her knee. “Hey Jack?” “Hmm?” he asked, still looking up at the sky. “Do I hurt you as much as you hurt me?” The ice-boy sat up straight and looked at her quizzically. “What do you mean?” She sighed and glanced down. “Like…I get a sting whenever we touch, or are even close. Even now, my side feels like it’s on pins and needles, and I think it’s just because I’m close to you.” 

He bit his lip. He knew that she would realize this sooner or later, but he had hoped it would be later. “Look, Em, the thing is, we’re pretty much polar opposites. I mean, you bring life and warmth and springtime and I bring, well, cold and frost,” he said, gesturing to the small circle of frost surrounding him. Emma’s green eyes shifted from the ground to her friend. “So, you’re saying… we can’t even touch without hurting each other?” Jack nodded, responding, “Yeah. It sucks, doesn’t it?”

The pink-haired girl quickly got to her feet and took a few steps away from him. “Jack, the last thing in the world that I want is to hurt you.” “Emma wait—“ She turned away from him, bent her knees, and pushed herself off into the air. 

“Emma!” She sped away from him, not looking back, not letting him see the tears running down her face. “Emma!”

Jack gazed after her. He wanted to chase after her, but he knew in his heart that would only make things worse. So instead, he flew off in the other direction, slowly, because there was nothing to rush after.


	5. The Warmth in the Cold

Spring changed to summer, which in turn changed to fall. Emma discovered that nearly all of her being changed colors with the seasons: her hair faded from pale pink, to a richer, hotter pink in the summer, and finally to a deep red that matched the leaves perfectly in the fall; the roses on her crown and wand lightened in a similar fashion; even the leaves that seemed to just grow naturally in her hair shifted their colors between summer and autumn. Pretty much the only thing that stayed the same over the seasons was her constant avoidance of Jack. 

She couldn’t even think of a good reason to avoid him, other than that she didn’t want to hurt him.

It was hard, there was no denying that. Emma liked him, a lot. She suspected that she even loved him. And she knew that he felt the same way about her, or else he wouldn’t be making a point to give her space. 

She sat in the high frozen grass and scowled at the winter wind. Jack would travel to towns she had previously been to exactly two days after her to wreak havoc in the form of snow flurries and cold winds. No matter where she went to extend the last dose of summer warmth, he was just two days behind, spreading the chill of winter.

She set her baton down beside her and wrapped her arms around her legs, pushing her bare toes into the solid earth and burying her face in her knees. As much as she wanted it to stay summer, or even autumn, winter was coming up fast, and there was no avoiding the inevitable. It was the beginning of November, and about the time for her winter hibernation. 

Her toes began to get that pins-and-needles feeling again. She groaned. He always found her.

Emma picked up her baton, stood up and called out, “I know you’re there, Jack. I can feel you the same way you feel me.” She heard the soft hiss of his frost spreading behind her, and turned to see him emerging from the trees. Her arms crossed over her chest as she stared pointedly at him. “Can I help you?”

Jack grinned at her and leaned on his staff, saying, “Why yes, you can. But isn’t it bedtime?” The redhead rolled her eyes and took a step towards him, his frost melting a little as she did. “Who says I have to give up so soon?” She continued moving towards him, until she was just inches away. For the first time since she’d known him, Jack blushed, a slight pink that was a stark contrast to his pale skin and that spread across his cheeks and down his neck. He swallowed hard. “Um…er…ah…” 

Emma smirked and, in spite of herself, felt her face warming as well. She felt the stinging feeling on her chest, but she honestly didn’t care. Her frustration with him just evaporated. She liked Jack, and that was all that mattered. He saw her blush, and he smiled down at her. Then, slowly, as though he didn't want to frighten her away, he put his arms around her. The frost-bringer didn't care about the pain either, he just cared about her.

Jack’s embrace, although painful, felt amazing. She hadn’t been able to touch anyone in so long that this contact was almost too much to bear. She rested her forehead against his chest as her fingers curled themselves lightly into his sweatshirt. He squeezed her once gently before releasing her and taking a step back.

“Alright, bedtime,” he said with a grin, “It’s my time to shine.” She smiled back at him and nodded. “Go freeze cities, oh mighty Jack Frost.” She turned away from him and walked a little ways into the meadow, where she tapped the ground twice with her baton before opening the trapdoor that appeared and descended the stairs into her burrow. She stopped just before closing the trapdoor and glanced up at him one last time. The ice-boy gave the flower-girl a slight wave before taking off into the air towards the town.

Emma closed the trapdoor with a smile, walked down the rest of the stairs, and opened the silver-handled oak door to her familiar burrow. A fire was burning warmly in the hearth, and she yawned and stretched, placing the baton down on the table. As she stretched, her skin felt funny. She examined it closely and found that it was red, almost as though it had been sunburned. “That’s strange,” she murmured to herself. However, she yawned again in spite of herself and lay down on the bed, thinking no more of the burn and staring at the flickering flames until she fell asleep.


	6. The Intruder

Emma awoke to the sound of the oak door being opened. She stayed still and kept her breathing even while slowly reaching for her wand. The intruder must have thought she was still asleep, because he or she continued to sneak across the floor. As soon as they stopped right next to her bed, she whipped off her covers and pointed the wand at the prowler.

“Woah, take it easy there, Em. It’s just me,” said Jack Frost, his arms raised over his head like an outlaw in an old cowboy movie. She glared at him and lowered her wand, “Jack, you scared me! What are you doing here anyways?” Jack shrugged, tugged off his hood, and sat on the end table. “There was a blizzard outside.”

The flower-girl just looked at him sarcastically. “Awwh, is poor Jackie afraid of a little snow that he probably caused?” Jack rolled his eyes at her and tucked his knees into his chest. “It got a little out of hand, and I didn’t really want to try and find my way through it.” Emma laughed. “Alright, fair enough.” 

She stretched and asked, yawning, “What’s the date?” “December 21,” he answered, “Four days until Christmas.” She grinned. “Santa must be working hard. I remember, one year, Danny got – Oh god, Danny! I completely forgot about Danny!” She jumped out of bed and paced the floor, running her fingers anxiously through her hair. “Oh Jack, what could’ve happened to him since I’ve been gone? He must feel terrible! Oh god, oh god, oh god.”

The frost-bringer stood up from the table and moved in front of her, grasping her shoulders. “Emma, do you want to go see him?” Green eyes looked up into blue ones, and she nodded. “I just want to make sure he’s ok...” she murmured. Jack released her shoulders and held a hand out to her. She took it and squeezed it softly, letting him lead her out of the burrow into the white-washed world.

The two were too focused on finding Danny that they didn’t realize that they weren’t hurting each other for the first time since Emma was human.

*

Danny’s life had taken a turn for the worse.

His father, who had been in a coma after his suicide attempt, died within days of Emma’s departure. The day after the funeral, Danny was shipped off to his closest relatives: his Aunt Bernice and Uncle Henry. Their two sons, Harry and Liam, picked on him, beat him up, and stole everything he had left. Needless to say, Danny ran away after that. He was arrested for breaking into a convenience store and stealing a loaf of bread, and put in the care of child services.

He was shipped from “family” to “family,” each one worse than the last. By the time he was fifteen, he had gone bad: he smoke, he drank, he got into fights for fun. At this point, he really couldn’t get much worse.

However, through it all, Danny couldn’t shake the thought that Emma was always nearby, especially during the summer. Logic may have tried to convince him otherwise, but, as usual in stories like these, Logic was wrong. 

*

Jack brought Emma back to the last house she really lived in. The house, though once friendly and inviting, had turned into an abandoned, rotting mess, blanketed in snow. “What happened here?” the flower-girl whispered, her eyes tearing up at the derelict sight. “When you…disappeared, everything sort of took a turn for the worse.” Emma sat on the crumbling stoop, her fingers tracing the notches that her father had made in the doorframe to chart her growth. Only then did she realize how much her family had really needed her. The mere thought made her curl up in a ball and she started cry, there on that old familiar porch.

She felt a cold hand tenderly brush back her hair, and Jack murmured, “Shh, it’s alright. I’m sure Danny is in place much better than this.” Emma nodded, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I want to be sure. I just want to find my brother.”


End file.
